Paleolithic lifestyle

A paleolithic lifestyle (also known as paleo or primal lifestyle) refers to living as humans presumably did in the paleolithic era (Old Stone Age), or attempting to recreate such a lifestyle in the present day. The rationale for such an approach is that humans have evolved for millions of years in a paleolithic environment. Therefore, their body and mind can be expected to be adequately adapted to the concomitant hunter-gatherer lifestyle. Agriculture, on the other hand, only appeared about 10 000 years ago at the beginning of the neolithic era, and industrial society only about 200 years ago. Proponents of a paleolithic lifestyle assert that insufficient time has passed for humans to adapt to the changes brought by farming and industrialization, leading to a misfit between modern lifestyle and the human genome.

While a small number of cultures in the world continue to live a paleolithic hunter-gatherer lifestyle, a subculture of people has emerged in modern societies who try to recreate elements of a paleolithic lifestyle.[1][2] Their motivation is to enhance health, fitness and happiness by avoiding the common "diseases of civilization", such as obesity, some cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndrome, increasingly prevalent allergies, some forms of depression, and chronic stress. These diseases are not yet evidenced among hunter-gatherers, and therefore they are attributed to the modern, "civilized" lifestyle.[3][4] Moreover there are indications that a paleolithic lifestyle is likely to reduce stress and depression,[5] and increase overall happiness and well-being, given that our minds and emotions too are adapted for a life as hunter-gatherers.[6][7][8]

Researchers have argued for higher levels of physical activity, suggesting that human genes evolved with the expectation of requiring a certain threshold of physical activity and that a sedentary lifestyle results in abnormal gene expression.[10] Compared with ancestral humans, modern humans often have increased body fat and substantially less lean muscle, which is a risk factor for insulin resistance.[11] Human metabolic processes were evolved in the presence of physical activity–rest cycles, which regularly depleted skeletal muscles of their glycogen stores.[12] To date, it is unclear whether these activity cycles universally included prolonged endurance activity (e.g., persistence hunting) and/or shorter, higher-intensity activity. It is estimated that ancestral humans spent one-third of their caloric intake on physical activity (1000 cal/day out of a total caloric intake of 3000 cal/day)[13] and that the Paleolithic lifestyle was approximated by the WHO recommendation of a physical activity level of 1.75, or 60 minutes per day of moderate-intensity exercise.[14]

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Authors inspired by the paleo philosophy[15][16][17][18][19] formulate a variety of guidelines, including the following:

Adopt a Paleolithic diet as much as possible: plenty of fruit, fish, vegetables, nuts, and meat while avoiding most forms of food not in existence in paleolithic time. It implies avoiding all processed food, and in particular junk food and food with a high glycemic load, such as sweets and cultivated crops like potatoes and cereal grains (in particular wheat).

Exercise frequently, but with a variety of durations and intensities (including rest periods) rather than doing always the same, extended routines in a gym or while jogging.

Perform a variety of complex "natural movements" (e.g. walking, running, jumping, crawling, climbing, carrying, throwing, swimming) that use the whole body rather than artificially constrained exercises that focus on specific muscles (like those afforded by most gym equipment).

Maximize contact with nature, e.g. by keeping plants, gardening, working with animals, hiking in the woods, or climbing trees (as also proposed by the biophilia philosophy).

Use a minimum of clothes and don't wear shoes: exposure to heat, cold, pressure, and other natural forces strengthens rather than weakens the body.

Expose yourself regularly to the sun or natural light to get sufficient vitamin D and prevent depression.

Try to sleep at least eight hours a day, preferably in line with natural day-night rhythms (though people in pre-industrial societies do not sleep in contiguous blocks - see anthropology of sleep and segmented sleep).

Spend sufficient time relaxing, playing, and "being in the present", without worrying about later.